If It’s Up To Us We’ll Have To Take Control

Gotta gotta take control, gotta gotta gotta take control. Well, I guess, we’re going to have to make it on our own. We’re on our own. Bobby Brown may have killed Whitney Houston but he sure made a great point. What he’s really getting at in his late 80s record shattering, genre-defining mega-hit “On Our Own” (From the Hit Motion Picture Ghostbusters II) was that we are, ultimately, living our own lives, completely disconnected from any other source of support. Sure, in the very microscopic sense we are surrounded by other human beings, but on a larger sense we are all connected as one massive organism, a sole consciousness inhabiting an infinitesamly small blip in an endless ocean of nothing. Who do we have to lean on? Other people? But they are in the same quandary we are in! For they have nothing to rely on but ourselves! And what are we all leaning on? A rock hurling through space! There is nothing that is protecting us! A thin atmosphere?? In terms of ratio, our atmosphere is as thick as the skin on an apple! We are all hurling through space at hundreds of thousands of miles per hour on an apple! On a fucking apple. Think about that. Steve Jobs thought about it. Isaac Newton thought about it. Adam and fucking Eve thought about it. Apples are the quintessential example for basing all other of life’s and the universe’s mysteries on. We are an apple revolving around a larger apple, and there is a tinier apple revolving around us! So, what Bobby Brown is saying, in a very deft and adroit and urbane and sophisticated and other pretentious words way, is that we all, meaning you and me, and everyone on this planet, we all must make it on our own. We cannot rely on others, those who are relying on us. We cannot rely on anything. Everything we know, everything we have access to or are beholden to, is in a state of free fall, racing into oblivion. Our mass inhabits the amount of space of the Universe that you could truthfully express it as 0%. Our time on this planet, also, in the entirety of the Universe, can also be expressed as filling up a whopping 0%. Therefore, you’ve never existed, for absolutely no time at all. That is what Bobby Brown is saying and that is why Bobby Brown has been and is one of the great minds of ours, or any other generation’s time.

 

 

Why’s It Gotta be A Title?

Bloody tits. Holy soaked morons. I don’t know if I can write like I used to, but why should that matter? Most people aren’t as good as they used to be, because everything was better before things got bad. I’m not so happy about the way the world is going but why would anyone like this shit? It’s not a very great place anymore to be alive. There’s a lot of things that I would change, but who am I? I’m not a type of person that can get things done. For fuck’s sake, I can hardly even write like I used to, as I stated at the beginning of this moronic soliloquy, remember? I told you I wasn’t good at writing, but I just used a word like “soliloquy” so I must be pretty fucking smart. Or, at least, I used to be. That’s what I thought, I used to be a genius. But, it’s easy to be a genius when you’re young, because everyone else your age is a fucking moron. There’s not much to know when you’re a fucking idiot. And boy, everyone was a fucking idiot. I feel like I had some incredible power when I was a teen. Maybe that power was I hadn’t gotten laid yet. Maybe putting my penis in a vagina stole all my powers. Man, I am jealous of that vagina. Somewhere out there is a woman with all my creativity between her legs. Maybe her ovaries are writing hilarious stories. Those are mine. Give them back. My first mistake was getting a penis. My second mistake was keeping my testicles. And my third mistake was allowing myself to hit puberty and get erections when I saw girl’s pretty face and bosom. Wait, I meant ass, that’s not a bosom? I like saying BUXOM BLONDE. I wish I knew a buxom blonde. Most girls I’ve been with have had pretty small bosoms. But, that’s ok. It’s not the size that counts, it’s the perfect proportion, shape, and firmness that matters. Big boobs can be bad, and tiny tits can be terrible. See what I did there? It’s called alliteration, or as we say in the business, “atiteration”. Have I got it back yet? Is my mojo here? Maybe if I stopped jerking off I’d be funny. No, that’s not true, I probably jerked off a lot more when I was young, before I put my penis in a pretty pussy. So, maybe I should jerk off more often. Maybe semen is ruining my life. I wonder when semen first entered my veins. Maybe I need the perfect blood to semen ratio floating in my capillaries. Some people say that I never lost my abilities, some people say that I just lost my confidence. Maybe abilities and confidence are the exact same thing. Whoa. That was deep. I’m like a true renaissance man, I don’t have indoor plumbing and I think the sun revolves around the earth. That was another joke, take note of it. It’s important. So, I was reading through my deadjournal today. If you don’t know what deadjournal is, it’s a journal that is no longer living. here’s the link for the nobody who is reading this: morristigersn.deadjournal.com And I realized that I used to write fantastic things that were very creative and seemed like they came from nowhere and reading them now I am fascinated by how the fuck I came up with them and I’m so impressed by my creativity and ingenuity. I’m jealous of a fucking 15 year old. And honestly, if I were a girl these days I’d rather fuck my 15 year old self, and I promise, ladies, that I would not have told anyone. So, get in a time machine, go find him, and fuck him. But, then again, as I have proven, that would have ruined my creativity, so that’s a tough call. If you haven’t been able to tell yet all I care about is women. I took an approach later in life that said I had to be physically attractive to get women so I started working out and caring about how I dressed and did my hair and all that shit I would have hated about myself back when I was actually cool. And here’s the fucking kicker!!! Now in my old age, I have learned that the thing that would actually get me laid, and by really hot women, is if I had been the weird creative kid that I used to be. For some inexplicable reason, really hot women now think it’s cool to be nerdy and different. They think that they’re being cool and different by fucking disgusting fucks who are weird and creative. I used to be weird and creative but now I’m attractive and in good shape, so I can’t fucking get laid. And odds are if I get weird and creative again and lose my physical attractiveness, it’ll become en vogue once more to fuck attractive guys and think nerds are fucking losers. I cannot win. Finally, I used to write weird poems/songs/weird things that came out of nowhere so here I go to try:

When you feel like a sheep and have no more hay

Remember the donkey, the llama, the Jay

They all have their strengths, their powers galore

They all get more pleasure than being a boar

But here’s the real cinch, I’m sure you’ll agree

There’s more to enjoy when you are not a flea

 

That was stupid. But I bet if I read this in 2 years I’ll think to myself “aw, gee, I used to have talent, I wish I could write like that still.”

FUCK EVERYTHING. What can I do? I don’t know. I’ll be 31 in two weeks and I’m as clueless as ever and as far from being successful as I’ve ever been. Doing great! Feeling fine! And on top of that, I’ve lost nearly everything I loved! Sheba, my dad, my house…It’s a blast!

Nuclear Korea

I like to write about things before they happen so I can have solid evidence of what my thoughts were before the fact. In the recent weeks there has been increasing rhetoric and a war of words between the USA and North Korea. More accurately, between President Donald Trump and North Korea. I still find it very hard to believe or accept the term “President Donald Trump” and if anyone had told me ten years ago that Donald Trump caused a nuclear war I would think it was a headline from The Onion. Seriously, though, if I die in a nuclear holocaust caused by someone as ridiculous and useless as Donald Trump, well, I guess it doesn’t matter because I’ll be dead, but if there is an afterlife I’ll be pretty pissed.

Here’s my thoughts on the subject: North Korea is a threat to no one except the people of North Korea. The only people that would have any interest in starting a war in North Korea would be the citizens who live in abject poverty and under a brutal totalitarian regime. The elite ruling class of North Korea, particularly Kim Jong-Un live in luxury. Kim has everything he could ever want and in abundance, his life is paradise. There is absolutely no way and no reason that Kim would ever want to lose what he has. The only way he could ever lose what he has is by a war starting, especially with the USA. North Korea and Kim may be delusional, but there is no way they have any misconceptions about the fact that they would be utterly annihilated by the USA and probably a coalition of other nations that would attack them in a war. That being said, there is absolutely no reason that Kim would want to start a war and in doing so lose everything he has. When North Korea shoots off their little missiles into the seas around them it isn’t as a threat of coming war, it’s as a threat of “hey, don’t attack us, because if you do, we will blow you up, too.” They know they wouldn’t win in any war, the best they can do is make it seem very undesirable to start a war with them because you would get fairly injured in the process, as well. The only way that North Korea is going to attack anyone else, is if they are attacked first. Unfortunately, the only way to deal with North Korea is to just leave them alone. It is a completely untenable position, they pose no threat to anyone other than their own people unless attacked, at which point South Korea, Japan, and possibly the USA would be in danger. In other words, attacking North Korea does NOTHING but endanger ourselves.

So, why would President Dumbfuck Trump want to attack North Korea? He says they pose a threat. That is true, they pose a threat if and only if attacked first. There’s no way that he and his military advisors do not know that. It’s pretty transparent what is going on. The oldest trick in the book of propping up a failing regime is to start a war. Who can you justifiably start a war with right now other than North Korea? They are the only country openly “threatening” the United States. No one would be very sad to see the North Korean regime removed from power. But, as I stated before, if you want North Korea to attack other nations, the only way it will happen is if you attack them first. So, if Trump decides to launch a preemptive strike then voila his predictions will come true with the bombings of South Korea, Japan and possibly American territories in the Pacific. It is not a coincidence that Trump is the least popular president in American history and desperately looking for a fight to pick. Nothing improves your poll ratings than being the leader of a nation at war. It is downright unpatriotic to not support your president in wartimes! And even more unthinkable would be to continue an investigation into the leader of a country at war! How unconscionable would it be to IMPEACH a president while at war?? It would be downright impossible. All investigations into Trump, all bad press on Trump, all falling polling numbers, everything would cease. Trumpy boy is a dummy but he knows well enough that nothing would help him out of his current predicament like a good ole war of existential survival!

I honestly don’t know if this will lead to war. I would like to hope that if the US does launch a preemptive attack on North Korea that it is with conventional weapons that are targeted at crucial military infrastructure in North Korea. Possibly just take out all nuclear weapons sites and missile launch sites before they can retaliate at all. If it goes further than that I hope it is nothing more than aerial bombings and naval bombardments. Nothing involving ground troops. Most importantly, it would be need to be a coordinated and approved attack with China and South Korea, possibly also Japan. Most importantly we CANNOT attack North Korea without China’s blessings and hopefully even support. If you really want to start a world ending war, pit the USA against China. Shit would get out of hand real fast. Also, since South Korea is going to endure the brunt of any retaliations by North Korea, you must inform them and have them fully aware of the plans and get their approval.

The end. I hope none of this happens. Maybe China will just take care of it themselves and everyone will live happily ever after.

Donald Trump is The President of the United States of America

I wasn’t going to write about this, it’s still too fresh and dominating my mind. Everyone is talking about it constantly, it seems like there is no other topic. But, I think I would be remiss to not record my thoughts. Any historic event should be well recorded and I will never truly know how I felt at the time again once it has past. Even now, a few days later, I’m removed from the initial reactions.

On Tuesday I was nervous. I didn’t truly believe Trump would win, though. I think I was more nervous about what would happen after the election, if Trump would concede peacefully or incite some sort of uprising. Or, at the very least, sue to have all the ballots recounted, or something. Myself, and everyone else, was utterly stunned as we saw the election results come in. It was all happening in this sort of slow motion. It just very slowly and steadily became worse and worse and the impossible started seeming more and more possible. The pundits started running out of ways that Hillary could still pull out a victory and the discussion began to immediately turn to panic. Pundits arguing how this could happen, what would happen now, is there any chance she could still pull ahead. What combination of state wins would give her the win and then it became impossible for her to win and Donald Trump was the President-elect.

Waking up the next morning I had that same feeling of dread that I had after my dad had died. Trying to figure out if the preceding evening’s events had happened, or if it was a dream. Then slowly coming to terms with your new reality. I haven’t seen a reaction to something like this since 9/11 (and coincidentally this was 11/9). People are truly stunned, scared, shocked, outraged, not knowing what to do and how to go on. I am in Los Angeles so this very directly affects many people here. I worry now that people look at me and wonder if I voted for Trump. Everyone is angry, everyone is in disbelief. We have no idea what is going to happen. At some point the man had every opinion on every subject possible. You can be optimistic and hope that things he said were just ways to get votes, or that at some point he once had the same belief as you so maybe that’s how he really feels. But, that’s what’s so scary. We have no idea who this man is. We know things he has said, and some of them are very scary. Like deporting millions of people and banning Muslims and “testing” Muslims. It’s starting to seem less and less likely that Donald Trump is actually a liberal in disguise. He’s surrounding himself with the worst of the worst of people for his cabinet. Choosing literally the worst possible people for each position. As of now there’s talk of Sarah Palin for Secretary of Interior, a woman who wants to drill and mine every resource in America. Ben Carson for Secretary of Education, a man who doesn’t believe in evolution. Then the guy he has as candidate for EPA doesn’t think global warming is real, not to mention that he wants to completely eliminate the EPA altogether. Rudy Giuliani as Attorney General, a man who seems absolutely racist and literally mentally insane. Then of course you have the global warming denying, anti-abortion, homophobic Vice President of Mike Pence.

This doesn’t seem real. This seems like an absolute nightmare. I cannot imagine that our country is in the hands of these horrendous people. How can we possibly go on? How can our country survive this? The people that voted for Trump hate the people who didn’t vote for him so much. It seems like we are on the verge of another Civil War. We cannot tolerate what it is that these people are proposing for our country, and the people that voted for Trump cannot tolerate what it is we want this country to be. “A house divided will not stand” and this is the most divided most people can ever remember us being. I do not know what will happen but already there have been enormous protests throughout the major cities in the country every day since the election. Hundreds of thousands of people are taking to the streets against Trump and everything he stands for. On the surface I think the protests are pointless because what are you protesting? He won the election, we cannot change that now. I feel like I will protest only once he starts actually enacting things I find abhorrent. But, I do see a purpose to the protests. It shows solidarity, it’s cathartic for the enraged people taking part. It also gives comfort to the legitimately scared people in this country, that they are not alone, that we will attempt to fight Trump every step he takes. The younger people are the most incensed. Their culture has been one of acceptance and inclusiveness and (some might say) being overly politically correct. They cannot fathom how anyone could feel the way they do to elect Trump, that there could be so many is truly horrifying. This is the most progressive generation of all time and they are in absolute stunned shock. All they have ever known is Obama.

My girlfriend, Elizabeth, is 21 and she, and others she is friends with were in utter despondency after the results of the election. She is very progressive, college student, vegan, etc. This is outrageous to her, and rightfully so. I became despondent as the election results were coming, but I somehow woke up the next day totally reinvigorated. I felt like everyone was so depressed, there was such a palpable sense of dread and negativity and just awfulness that next day covering the whole country. I wanted to try to be the one bright spot, for people that are there for me when I’m down, so they could have someone. I spent the day with Elizabeth pepping her up. The truth is Hillary won the popular vote, by quite a margin. It’s important to remember that the majority of people who voted (and it was only like 49% of those eligible :() didn’t vote for Trump. And of the people that voted for Trump, maybe I am naive, but I truly believe they voted for him in spite of his racism, sexism, and bigotry, etc. Which, is still completely reprehensible in my opinion. It doesn’t make it okay. But the truth is that they can be reached, they’re not necessarily virulently racist, and it is unfair to label them that, I suppose. I also told her how I remember living under George W. Bush, and I remember what it was like to have a government that you didn’t feel represented you, or that you were a part of. And that, the important thing was that I never lost who I was, and neither did millions of other Americans. We didn’t suddenly all become conservatives because our government was. And the proof of that is that after Bush we had Obama. Because there were millions of liberals who were still there ready to vote for a change. Again, we will keep our morals and ideals and we will fight everything Trump does. If anything, people that voted for Trump would love to see some coastal elite liberals being devastated and they would LOVE for them to shut up and disappear. They got their president, now let’s not give them the country they want. They’d love nothing more than their country with Trump as president with none of us in it. This is not time for us to get quiet and recede, now is when we make ourselves more known than ever. I suppose all these things have made me feel like I now have a purpose again. I actually feel less despondent, now that Trump is President. It’s very counter intuitive but I feel like I’m entering a world that now actually needs me, and people like me. It would be a gift to them for me to kill myself or be a failure nobody. I also told Elizabeth that not only are her and I in this together, and millions of like-minded people, but also, guess who the President of Barack Obama is now? Guess who Hillary Clinton’s president is? Guess who Warren Buffett, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, John Kerry, Joe Biden, Bob Dylan, Martin Scorsese, Corey Booker, etc, etc, etc, guess who they have as their President now? Donald Trump. Donald Trump is their president, as well. We are all in this together. None of us have it worse than the other. If you think they will sit idly by while this country goes to shit, you’re out of your mind. Not to mention the millions of people that didn’t vote for Trump and who are now taking to the streets. All of these people are a force against Trump.

Just a week ago I’d have said there’d never be a chance for another Civil War in this country, but now I am not so sure. Partly just because of how horrible the atmosphere of the country is now, but also just I truthfully never believed Trump would be President, so anything seems possible now. I didn’t think he’d run, I didn’t think he’d win the primary, I didn’t think he’d win the general. People now are joking “well, we didn’t think he’d do all that and proved us wrong, so maybe he’ll be an amazing president!” I’m not so optimistic. I think he just enjoyed running for President. The presidency will be in the hands of his cabinet, which is horrifying. Even more horrifying is the fact that the Republicans also won the House and Senate. They are completely unchallenged now. After 8 years of not allowing Obama to do anything, they are going to be able to do whatever they want with our country. People are terrified, liberal people are terrified. We feel like the rest of the country got conned, because they’re not that smart, and they’re angry and they’re racist. It truly feels like an us for them sort of thing. A matter of who gets to decide how this country goes. And both sides are the opposite and we hate the idea of the other side’s vision. Jobs are never coming back to America. Not manufacturing jobs at least and not to the scale it was to be able to support massive cities with good wages. Automation is here to stay and will only get worse. Global warming is real. The future of technology is in renewable energies. America needs to be the leader in this field or else it will fall behind forever. We create the technologies and then become the centers of manufacturing the technology. Otherwise, we will fail. Trump’s policy of denying global warming and not only undoing means to stop it, but approving policies that will speed up and worsen the crisis. It is suicidal. It is the most crucial issue facing us and we are going to willfully choose to make it worse. This may be something that cannot be undone, even if he is only in office 4 years. All the other issues are horrifying but honestly if global warming happens to the extent it is heading, nothing else matters, jobs are irrelevant, gas prices are irrelevant, health care, all of it, who cares if there is no earth to live on or food to eat? These people protesting right now are just making the Trump supporters feel justified in their choice, they think they need law and order and we are some rioting horde that wants to destroy the USA. All it would take is a Trump protester to kill a cop or more white on . black violence and I can see this country erupting into civil war. It is that tense right now and awful.

As of right now there are vain attempts to try to get Trump from becoming President at all. Since Trump only won the electoral college vote, people are claiming that the electors can choose to switch their vote to Hillary instead and she’d be President. The reason the electoral college was invented was to ensure that there was never someone so unfit, unqualified or awful that would become President. The founding fathers thought the people were stupid and wanted to make sure there was a failsafe. Honestly, I was really kind of hoping that the election was rigged like Trump was saying so that Hillary would in, regardless. It was almost sort of refreshing to see that Hillary lost because now we know for goddamn sure that it is not rigged. Whoever would be “rigging” it would never have allowed Trump to win. Anyway, it seems like if the electoral college actually did that, that would lead to an open armed rebellion by Trump supporters. I think there’s no chance of that happening and in most states it is illegal for them to even do that. We could handle an open armed rebellion right now though since the country is still relatively stable and Obama is in power. Either way, I don’t see that happening. Another thing going on is Trump’s various lawsuits, there was alleged rape of a 13-year-old but that was apparently dropped. Then there’s talk that Trump was seriously colluding with the Russians and that Russians hackers might have even tampered with vote tally results. People are demanding that an investigation be done into Trump’s entanglements with Russia. Some people claim that Putin has a video of Trump at an orgy and is using that to blackmail him. While the election results were coming in this NBC reporter, who seemed drunk possibly or crazy, was talking about how he had been in touch with Russian hackers and had told him that they influenced the election so that Clinton would lose and that once Trump became President they would release things about him to makes him seem horrible. All of this in an attempt to destabilize America and our government. I kind of want to see where that goes. I am not totally sure if there was vote manipulation by someone. It would be insane if it was done by outside forces especially. We have hackers, too, why aren’t they attacking Trump? When Trump is President they should just constantly hack him and his government. So, there is still this feeling of maybe there is a way to stop Trump from becoming President altogether. Right now Obama is still our President. This year and this election have been so unbelievable that I think people believe anything is possible at this point. It would make total sense if somehow Trump never ends up becoming President.

Then, of course there’s the talk of how long would he actually be president. Most people don’t believe he ever wanted to be President and he will either defer all responsibilities to someone else, probably Mike Pence, or he will just resign and of course spin it in some way that makes it seem like it was his idea and it’s a huge triumph. Then there’s those that believe he will get impeached, possibly even by his own party. If he’s not a real Republican they will turn on him and if he does anything so blatantly illegal he will have to be impeached. This seems pretty likely to me, he does seem very reckless and shady that I think he will slip up. That’s assuming though that his government is ethical enough to do the right thing and follow the law, that is to assume that he doesn’t take on extraordinary powers and becomes above the law. We really do not know at this point and all of this seems possible. We feel like that all laws could just become suggestions. If people don’t all get behind the idea of this country, who enforces the laws, who follows them, it doesn’t matter. Then of course there’s the fear he will be assassinated. That would be truly horrible. The people that voted for Trump did so because they are so afraid, especially afraid of the people that didn’t vote for Trump. That would confirm all their fears and they love the man so much, there’d be a civil war. People are saying that’s why he chose Pence as VP, because he’s so fucking awful that it would be worse to have him as President.Then of course there’s also the fact that there is no way Trump can make anything he promised come true and the people that elected him will actually turn him and become enraged at him. He has become the establishment.

He can’t build the wall. He can’t deport 11 million people. I’d be shocked if he really banned Muslims, or created some sort of vetting for Muslims. I definitely do doubt he’ll allow in any Syrian refugees. It seems most likely he will immediately end Obamacare, which I don’t know where that leaves me if I will any longer have health insurance, which sucks, because I really need it. I don’t know if he can or will eliminate any cabinet departments like the EPA and Department of Education. I do dread and believe he will destroy most if not all environmental regulations. I think he will sell off large swathes of public land for private use for mining and logging and ranching, etc. The only good thing I can see him doing is rejecting the TPP, but now I’m not even sure he’ll do that. He’s already inviting in the establishment and wall street to be part of his cabinet. It doesn’t seem like he’ll deliver on any of the real populist stuff. He supporters definitely got conned but I think he is invincible to them. He is a demagogue. He will blame everything on something else, even if it makes utterly no sense, like how there are no Democrats to fuck up anything anymore. Of course he will also nominate a super conservative justice, which is terrifying and has long-lasting effects. There is a real push right now for Obama to somehow get his justice nomination appointed without Congress, since they have refused to even consider, let alone approve any nomination by Obama.

The only real hope now is this idea that the Republicans might be unimpeded and have the majority, but they will see the atmosphere of the country and realize there might be some measures they’re wanting to do that would have a net negative effect with how much upheaval there would be in the country. But, I don’t know if they really care. And if they really are fascists then maybe they will just violently crush and silence opponents. Trump is already starting to attack newspapers about how they’re reporting on him. People hoped the tweets and pettiness would stop once Trump got elected, but it does not seem that way. There was a lot of “oh, he just did that to get elected” and “he’s not really like that, he’s just trying to get votes”. That’s a lot to assume, but I think people got exactly what they saw. There’s nothing that he’s going to turn into or that he really is. It’s awful right now. It’s hard to tell if hate crimes have been rising because of Trump’s election, or if it’s just that the news is reporting it now to make a story. But, it definitely looks like quite a few violent hate crimes have been committed since his election that were because of Trump’s election. That was the fear going into this. We thought that just by Trump having the nomination or any national acceptance that it emboldened and validated racists and bigots. We thought if he became president that it would basically just unleash a torrent of hate and racism we had never seen. That it was now accepted, because the President represented these things. Now you can do whatever you want, your president supports your actions. That is one of the main fears and it really seems to be coming true so far and Trump isn’t even president yet. This is still Obama’s America. It just seems like it is about to become an apocalyptic scenario of race wars and mass murders.

I just hope nothing happens to Obama. We need him around. I want him to make a video message for us all every night for the next four years to let us know everything is okay and to hang in there. I feel like this really ruins his legacy, though. He was finishing so strong and we were really starting to appreciate him once we realized what we were about to end up with, either Hillary or Trump. He has one of the highest approval ratings of any President ever. But, now Trump is president. And not only is Trump going to undo everything Obama did, or try to, which ruins Obama’s legacy, but also the mere fact that Trump got elected will make Obama go down as someone that couldn’t keep America together and didn’t recognize a growing problem within the country. That is on him now and whatever happens with Trump and after Trump is in someway going to be on Obama’s shoulders. Which is very sad, because he was a very good president and I don’t think it is fair. And I didn’t fully agree with Obama and I didn’t vote for him his second term, but as far as presidents go, he was great, but we can still do better.

That’s where we turn now. To figuring out how to come back from this. In my opinion this could end up being the greatest thing ever for progressives. This just infuriated and energized and radicalized so many people. They just wrote their own death warrant. The people need to take control over the DNC to make sure that the party’s direction is with the people and for the people and that any candidates are for the people, not chosen by the elites. The people didn’t choose Hillary, the DNC chose Hillary for them. We wanted Bernie. Bernie I believe would have beat Trump. All of these young people who are outraged are now going to become so well-versed in politics and law and are going to be so aware and conscious of what Trump and his government is doing. He will be so closely watched, there is no room for error. All of these people will no longer take voting for granted and believe it is not a big deal or doesn’t make a difference or you can be passive about it. We see now that everything can be taken away in an instant. We truly never believed Trump would be President. We were all blindsided. We literally had those things circulating about how people said nothing like Hitler could ever happen in their country and we all believed that as well. We thought, nope, that could never happen, not in the USA, other countries, but never here. It is quite humbling. I no longer feel like America is the greatest country in the world, I do not know which country is, but we are like a big ship that just got our engines knocked out by a torpedo. We are sitting dead in the water. I just hope no terrorist attacks happen any time soon. We couldn’t handle it, which is why they might do it. Hopefully we will get real progressives in there soon. When the pendulum of politics swings far one direction it swings back even farther in the opposite. We will get someone so progressive and liberal into the White House in 2020 that it will make Bernie Sanders look like Reagan. They just fucked themselves real bad.

But, this is terrifying. We have absolutely no idea what is going to happen. For a year we all were so excitedly awaiting for November 8 to come so this could all be over with and we could go back to our lives but now it feels like all I want to do is go back before November 8. Sort of the same way as 9/11, I remember the world so much better pre-9/11 and we can never go back, I feel like I immediately started thinking about what the world was like before Trump became President, and I feel like I will long for the pre-11/9 world, as well. I’m so terrified to find out what Trump will do, but at the same time it is somewhat exciting (in a bad way). Can’t wait to see what happens. I am living true history. This and 9/11 I can tell are the 2 most significant world moments that have happened in my life.

It kinda feels like Les Miserables. People don’t seem to care so much about their own lives anymore. This is their life now. Fighting this. Coming together. People are scared and rightfully so. We’re all looking for inspiration and motivation. Someone to lead us. It’ll be interesting to see who comes out as our leaders to get us through this. So far it only seems like Michael Moore has really taken a role in organizing and planning. He’s not in stunned shock. He’s doing stuff. Right from the start. Good for him. He know that this would happen and why it would happen so I trust he would know how to come back from it.

Predictions

I love making predictions. It’s really cool to go back and look at them. There’s really no way to go back to the mindset you were in after the fact. When I write it down I can know without a doubt how I was thinking and what I thought would happen before it happened. I’d like to try to predict this presidential election. I should have done it earlier, but I can say that even before the candidates were announced I’ve just assumed that Hillary would become president. Basically ever since Barack got reelected in 2012 I’ve assumed Hillary would be next. I have to be honest, I still believe she will be President, although I have to admit that I’m not as sure as I was before. I’ll also say that I absolutely did not believe for a second that Donald Trump would become the Republican nominee. That’s just insane.

Now, here we are towards the end of May in 2016, Trump has not officially been declared the Republican nominee but that’s basically a foregone conclusion unless something monumental happens between now and July when they have their convention. On the other side of things you have Hillary still fighting it out with Bernie. Hillary has all but wrapped up the nominee at this point. It’s blatantly obvious that the DNC wants Hillary as their nominee. They’ve done everything in their power to make this election as difficult as possible for Bernie and yet he’s still giving her hell. I’d like to believe that Bernie could still somehow become the nominee but that’s seeming less and less likely. Certainly does not seem like he would become the nominee by the primary voting process. The only way he could win the nomination at this point pretty much is through a contested convention. While not technically eliminated as a possibility, the math of it is basically impossible. He’d probably have to win the rest of the primaries by 70% of the votes or something incredible like that. The last big contest is California where the most delegates of any state are up for grabs. My prediction for that contest is Hillary will win with something like 52% of the votes, which has been the pattern, basically, thus far. That will seal the deal. That primary is the first week of June.

So, here’s my prediction: Hillary will win the Democratic party’s nomination through the primary process, receiving the required number of delegates (I also predict that after this election a lot of information about corruption will come out in regards to voter suppression, disqualified ballots, etc. Hopefully this will lead to some voter reforms).  The interesting part about predicting this comes after she gets the required delegates. There are a few things that could play out, first off Hillary is embroiled in a ton of scandals right now. As Trump increases the pressure on his competition he will bring more and more of this to light and the media will start to have to acknowledge it instead of sweeping it under the rug, as it’s been doing. If enough of this comes to light, and Bernie has a close enough delegate count, it could make the Democratic Convention very interesting, as Bernie will be able to make a very strong case against Hillary and why he would be a much better opponent to Trump. Trump will absolutely eviscerate Hillary in debates and just through Twitter and the media as he’s been doing. He has so much content on Hillary, he hasn’t even gotten started destroying her. Although I did say I think Hillary will become President, it scares me a lot to leave it up to her to be the one in the way of stopping Donald. I think there are a TON of Independents and even Republicans who would prefer Bernie over Hillary OR Donald and if given the options of those two, they are going to go third party or just vote for Trump. It’ll be way too close for comfort if Hillary is the nominee.

Another potential (and frightening) outcome is that if Bernie is not the Democratic nominee he will run as a third party candidate. Bernie really has no affiliation with the Democratic party, he only became a Democrat to run for president and after the way the DNC has been treating him, I’m sure he has even less respect for them. However, Bernie, probably more than anyone, fears a Trump presidency. This election has really come down to this: people either desperately want to stop Trump from becoming president or desperately want to stop Hillary. I truly believe and hope that there are more people supporting these candidates out of fear of the other guy than an actual affinity for either one of them.

It’s really sad to think that America will be voting for a President out of fear of someone else being President, rather than voting for someone they actually like and feel like would be good for this country. If Bernie runs as a third party candidate it basically will hand the office to Trump and Trump knows this, which is why he has been tweeting about how “unfairly” Bernie is being treated by the DNC and encouraging him to run as a third party candidate. Taken on face value you might almost begin to believe that Donald likes Bernie, but that’s bullshit, he just wants Bernie to split the Democratic vote.

It’s an incredibly tricky and delicate situation and so much hangs in the balance. If given the choice of Donald or Hillary I will vote for Jill Stein, but I will say that I’d much rather have Hillary than Donald. I believe Hillary will at least try to keep up appearances and basically maintain the status quo. I also believe that she will grant a few token gestures to appease all those that are starting to get so riled up. At some point the wealthy elite have to recognize that their policies are creating a very unstable system that will eventually harm themselves, that is when they will start giving a little to us to keep themselves safe. The powers at be are terrified, they already lost one of the major parties and they’re struggling to keep the other party. They know that they need to do something or else the next election cycle can really see a clean wipe of all the Washington insiders from politics and ergo a dissolution of the power being wielded by the wealthy elite and corporate powers that be. Therefore, if Hillary becomes president I believe you’ll see the following: a restructuring of student loan debts and a complete overhaul of the student loan system, increasing of federal minimum wage, more regulations and oversight on the healthcare system and their price gauging, creating more “green” jobs and a move toward (not a full change, that would anger her fossil fuel constituents/patrons) renewable energy sources, a strong push toward more equality for women and protection of women’s health and reproductive rights (Planned Parenthood funding), and most likely a continuation of the Obama doctrine of limited involvement in foreign military interventions. I’m a pragmatist, so I’ll be happy to get those changes, even though I know they are just a ruse to keep me appeased and I know that they are nowhere near as far as they should or could go. I’d MUCH rather have that than having Trump come in and absolutely destroy politics, head us back in all the wrong directions and just create an even more divisive atmosphere in this country.

Let’s toe the line for now and we will eventually get the progressive president we want and need. I’d rather maintain the shitty situation we have now than absolutely decimate it and have to start over from scratch. Change comes in slow waves, not one giant cataclysmic event (usually). It’s abundantly obvious that there is a sea change happening in this country, the final vestiges of the white Christian elite are fading and they know it, they’re like an injured wild animal, lashing out violently and erratically as they’re in their death throes. We slowly keep getting more and more of our progressive, liberal agenda and that will continue. The demographics themselves of this country are changing drastically, and with them, so are the ideals and morals of the people of this country. We may not get what we want in 2016, but if our only choices are complete destruction, or a slight improvement, let’s go with the slight improvement and go from there the next chance we have. Also, remember, the president isn’t the end all be all of American politics. Just as important, if not more so, are the midterm elections where we can finally have the chance to change the face of our inept, corrupt Congress. Hopefully, if anything, this election season has created a sense of civic duty in Americans and there will actually be strong turnouts for elections of local officials and congressmen. Up until now mostly geriatric conservatives have been voting in midterm elections, and that is why we end up with a conservative controlled Congress when the actual makeup of this country is far from it. Also, most importantly, is to work hard to ensure that as MANY Americans are possible are not only eligible to vote, but have the opportunity to vote. When we get as close to 100% voter turnout as we can, then, and only then, will we have a government that is actually representative of the people. The best cure to solving the ails of our political system is by involving as many Americans as possible in the process. The majority is the only chance we have in instituting policies that finally benefit the majority. We cannot rely on businessmen, career politicians and super wealthy to act in our best interests. As voter turnouts have diminished, so too have policies reflecting the will of the people.

In summation, Hillary Clinton will be our next president, it’ll be mediocre, people will be clamoring to get the next president elected, but most likely she’ll have two terms, because that’s just how people function these days. 2024 is the year we take back America! I’ll be sitting around doing not much of anything until then. Let’s do it.

Trump Delusion

You cannot espouse your support of Donald Trump while at the same time denying to be a racist. You are a racist, you are supporting a racist, you are supporting racist and xenophobic policies. You cannot get past that. Yes, maybe you want an outsider, yes, maybe you think he can restore America to its prior glory, that’s all fine and good, but it cannot come at the price of losing our values of equality and acceptance. I have no problem with people supporting Trump as long as you’re willing to admit that you’re a racist and a bigot. You cannot separate the two. I’m sorry, that’s just how it is.

And, once again, just to reiterate, if you’re voting for Trump because you want an “outsider” then what the fuck are you thinking? The whole issue over wanting outsiders is because of the belief that our political system has been infiltrated by big money and has been manipulated to only benefit the wealthy. So, why in the fuck would you just directly put the wealthy elite into power? Just so that we can be rid of the facade of pretending to be a functioning democracy? Let’s get rid of these proxies and just put in the people really in charge. To me, if you’re voting for Trump, you’re basically saying you just want to cut out the middle man. Trump has openly boasted how he has played the system and according to his logic, that is why he would be best suited to combat the corruption problem. Really? You’re going to fall for that shit? You truly believe that given this man the power to dictate national policy he’s really going to use that to benefit the masses? He’s not going to go ahead and personally enact all the policies beneficial to him that he’s been trying to get politicians to pass with his donations? He’s suddenly going to have a change of heart and want to use his powers to help all of us, not himself, as he’s been doing for decades.

So, do me a favor, if you’re voting for Trump, just say it like it is, it’s because you want to strengthen and recreate the status quo of white heterosexual Christians being in power in this country and having all the money and resources and advantages to themselves. Don’t give me some bullshit that you want an outsider, because he is not, he is the cause of the symptoms that you are claiming to be against. I’d have so much more respect for someone that would say “I’m voting for Trump because I hate Muslims and Mexicans and I don’t think too highly of women, either.” I can respect that. All your other bullshit reasons are so transparent. And, just for the record, no I do not respect people being racist, sexist, or bigoted in any way, but you get what I’m saying. At least I can respect you for being genuine.

PC Culture is the Death of America

It seems like a good idea: let’s include everyone in everything and make everybody feel safe and accepted and good about themselves.  But, then it becomes something else, empowering to some and damning to others. One of the great tenets of our Constitution and the USA, in general, is our Freedom of Speech. The free flow of words and ideas has allowed our country to flourish. People need to feel unafraid to speak their minds, even if they think it could be a touchy subject, or offend some. It seems to be forgotten that with the Freedom of Speech also comes the Freedom to Offend and Freedom to Be Offended. Just because someone has offended you with what they have to say doesn’t mean they should stop saying it, or pretend they no longer believe it. Yes, you were offended, you can let that be known, and move on. When we start telling people they can’t say certain things or think a certain way, and start ostracizing those who do, we create a hostile environment where people are afraid to speak their minds.

It’s been said “I may not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it” and that still holds true. I may not agree with you, and I may be offended by what you believe, but I absolutely believe you should be allowed to say and think that way (As long as you are not encouraging violence).  There’s no reason for you to cease to exist or have to feel ashamed and live in solitude. Beyond the real threat of censorship destroying what our country is and what made it great, it’s also dangerous to allow the majority opinion to silence and punish the dissenting opinion. Just because you are the majority now, does not mean you may not find yourself in a situation where you are the minority. And when you are the minority, you are going to want a system where everyone is treated equally regardless of their beliefs and words they use and things they say. In some weird way I’m proud that I live in a country where people say crazy shit all the time. That’s amazing that someone can feel secure enough to speak their mind in public without the fear of imprisonment or execution. Though the government might not do that to us, the masses could be taking their place. Increasingly there is a mob mentality where people are self-righteously justifying how they feel and persecuting all those who think otherwise. They become the legislator, the police officer, the judge, the jury and the executioner, all in one. They push their way until everyone agrees to think the same way (I say “agree” because there is no way to make people think a different way, it would only be for show). That sounds grand when it’s a belief that you truly believe in and think should be apparent to anyone else that it is also “right”. But, unfortunately, again, you might find yourself in the situation where what everyone thinks is “right” you truly and fervently believe, (as much as you believe in something now) that it is wrong. Do you want there to be the precedent of eradicating thoughts or beliefs?

We must protect the rights of those we disagree with, because one day, those we disagree with, could be the ones making these decisions, the ones in power, in the majority, etc. It’s hard to comprehend that as strongly as we believe (and in some cases know) that something is “right” there are people who just as strongly believe or know the opposite to be true. When you look at it that way, you realize the futility in trying to convince someone otherwise. You don’t have to raise your voice and be outraged and frustrated over how someone can think that way or disagree with you, because you know they’re thinking the same about you. It cancels each other out.

One last thing, it’s totally cool with being accepting of who you are and loving yourself, that’s great. Just don’t ever expect that others will feel the same way. No one needs to give you permission to be the person you are, just do it. You don’t need their validation. So, they think you’re ugly, so they think you’re weird, who cares? You probably wouldn’t like them personally, anyway. You can choose to live pretty much any way you want, and everyone else can choose to either be okay with it, or not. In either case, it shouldn’t affect any other person’s life and should never be their say what you can or cannot do.

Donald Trump :(

I’m really sad about Donald Trump. Or, I should say, I’m really sad that so many people like him. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always thought that people are awful and the world is a shitty place, BUT I had a little flicker of hope in knowing that I’m a pessimist and more than likely blowing things out of proportion. Now I know I was always right, and all you optimists were the delusional ones. See? The world really is filled with assholes. Now we know without any doubt. There is empirical evidence to support my belief that the world is an awful place. Now I can put an exact number to how many douchebags there are in this country. Donald Trump running for president is basically the 2016 US Census of Douchebags. No longer can I console myself with the admonishment of “cheer up, you’re just cynical, there really aren’t that many bad people in this country.” Well, I was wrong. And I admit it.

If you support Donald Trump, you are a racist and a bigot, there’s no way of trying to deny that. You cannot justify voting for him if you believe in equality and religious freedom in this country. I know there are positive aspects that people point to in defending their choice of Trump. But, it doesn’t matter. He could be the greatest president of all time, make America the greatest it’s ever been, but none of it would matter. Any good thing you can say about Trump, or any reason you can give to vote for Trump, is immediately invalidated based on other aspects of who Trump is and what he wants for the USA. The fact that he said he would deport all illegal immigrants should be a reason he can’t and shouldn’t be President. The fact that he said he would ban all Muslims from entering the United States immediately invalidates ANY and ALL positive points you can speak about the man. The many disgusting, inflammatory things he has said about women and handicapped people all eliminate him from any reasonable choice to elect him. There is nothing American about this candidate or his supporters. When did the USA become the place that rejects those in need, that takes away opportunities for those seeking it, that shuts out people based solely on their religion? You cannot say you’re a “patriot” and a “True American” while at the same time wanting to deny other Americans and other people wanting to become American their rights. America is and always has been great because it is the best country in integrating and utilizing new people and ideas. America became what it is BECAUSE of immigrants, not in spite of immigrants. We didn’t overcome immigrants to become great, we became great because of immigrants. It is so short-sighted also, to create laws against people or suppress people based on ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation. Do you really want to set the precedence of banning a whole religion from your country? That seems safe now because white Christians have been the majority and had the power so long in this country, but that will not always be the case. Do you really want to allow the majority religion of the country to decide for all the other religions what they can and cannot do or can and cannot even be in the country? What happens if one day America is mostly Muslim? Should we create the precedence of banning certain religions now? You hurt yourself when you hurt any other religion or ethnicity or group of people. Let’s have our laws stand where they are, which is supposed to be equal, fair and balanced, for EVERYONE. Let’s stick to the letter of the law, especially when your party is always espousing that’s what they believe in. Freedom of Religion is one of our rights as American citizens, you cannot start to infringe on that.

The other point that bothers me about Trump’s supporters is that many of them are into him because of his “outsider” status and as a reaction to their own revulsion to the corruption in politics. I understand people not trusting politicians, and wanting to find a candidate who is not part of the corrupt system, but how in the hell do you delude yourself into thinking Donald Trump is not part of the corrupt political system? He freely admits that he is part of that system, having donated to many different politicians. Let’s follow that logic: politicians that takes money from rich businessmen are bad, BUT the rich businessmen who give money to the politicians are good! Basically what Trump supporters are saying is they want to cut out the middle man. Instead of a billionaire paying a politician to do what he wants, he’ll just do it himself! If you want a job done right…

I don’t know what will happen in the general election. I honestly never believed that Trump would become the Republican nominee (I guess, at this point he’s still not technically the nominee so who knows), I feel really weird writing about Trump in a serious manner like this. I never in my life have taken him seriously. I still don’t. I think he’s a joke. But, other people do take him seriously and it seems that that number keeps growing. Somehow people are excusing the truly awful aspects of him (or they secretly or not so secretly love it) and believing that he is what America needs. His stupid little phrases and obnoxious names for foes really enrapt people. There seems to be a trend toward anti-intellectualism in this country. People really embrace ignorance and self-expression and spectacle. Opinions matter more than facts. I feel a certain way, so that’s the way it is, and I’m right and should be proud of my stance no matter what the overwhelming facts to the contrary are. It’s considered admirable to hold true to yourself and not let anyone change who you are. It’s also admirable to be an asshole to people, apparently. I truly can’t believe this is happening. I look forward to seeing how it all plays out.

Love’s pricked ’em. Now, he’s another victim. You can bet, that’s a doll. When a pork likes ticks until his brain is insane it doesn’t mean he’s asian. For a rent that could Taj Mahal. Call it Hell call it dummy, that’s the doll, the doll. Taking half a dump on a trump call.

There’s nothing in this world more sad than a child sitting home alone in his bed whimpering about being a poor baby. Stand up and take a stance, young man. Get out there and fulfill your marching orders. Take it up the ass. Have adventures. Eat shit. Grow a garden. Jerk yourself off. Learn how to fly fish. Tongue your balls. Earn a merit badge. Suck twat. Call your mother before she falls asleep.

Pray! Pray that the day! The day! Is not nigh, for you and I. Are just like a couple of Kikes. Roaming around the loamin, punchin out lots of chimney pipes. Four cents a holler, four cents a holler I say. That’s the way, to take it all the way, to the hoop to the scrotum and the undercarriage. Blood is wine and fine dining is nice but when it gets down to it who wants to read a book about hypocritical sandal humpers. Trash can to heaven, trash can to hell, trash can to inner space, trash can don’t smell.

Norwegian Airlines is the airlines of Norwegian Cruise Lines, a proud sponsor of Norway, the country with the least amount of problems. White people, helping real white people, in the whitest way possible. Smiling in the snow during a blizzard, blonde hair flowing in the wind, blue eyes crying with joy. Jingle his balls, jingle them nice, jingle them until they jingle no more, all over YOUR chest.

No need to be polite, I’m Polish. That’s the name of my bumper sticker, Norbert Ortega Von Schlieffen Plan, the Plan of YOUR future! (Not guaranteed in Alaska) Fish ovaries. Bird testicles. Donkey tits. These are a few of my favorite things. These. Are. A. Few. Favorite. Blow me, Harry Connick, Jr. 😉

What’s heavier? Lead or aluminum? How do you know? What if it was a planet made of nothing but Aluminum? Is that lighter or heavier than a male African Elephant in Northeast Kenya, in June, in the shade, drinking water?

Imagine, black market horse dealers. Guy sneaking around in a dark parking lot all sketchy like “yeah, I got your horse right here, his name is Paul Revere, you got the 1000 bucks?” Nathan. Nathan. Nathan. Detroit.

Michigan. 178 Consecutive Years the Most Mitten-Shaped State in the Contiguous United States of America. I had pink eye. It was highly contiguous. Even my mom got it. My mom. My MOM. my mom. A poem by Edward R. Murrow, CBS STUDIOS 1954

Apple pie was once a scorned delicatessen.

Moonlight in Vermont. Noontime in Carlsbad. Half past 10 in Detroit.

 

 

 

 

A Bowl of (Ebola) Shit

Ahhhh!! When I was about 8 years old I was riddled with irrational fears, most frightening of all were diseases. I was afraid of the most obscure illnesses, I’m really not sure where they came from. The two that frightened me the most, however, were Lou Gehrig’s Disease and Ebola Virus. I would literally cry under my bed praying to God that I would not get either of the two diseases, but convinced I somehow would. I don’t mean to be a hipster, but I totally was freaking out about those diseases long before anyone else did. I mean, now it’s so cool to be into ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) and Ebola. Psht, I was terrified long before anyone else even knew about them. Join the club. (Slight detour, but why isn’t it called Lou Gehrig’s Disease anymore? I mean, it was always also known as ALS, but I think it’s a little insulting that the man can’t have the disease that killed him. Lou Gehrig was an amazing baseball player and great guy, he deserves to live on in a degenerative disorder. At least give him that.)

I find it odd that somehow this Ebola is worse than the Ebola I lovingly grew up with as a child. How come the Ebola I came to fear in the 1990s was so much less important the newfangled Ebola of the 2010s, and why didn’t it create such widespread panic as it does now? It seems that anyone that was alive during that time period, who I mention that Ebola outbreak to, has no recollection of what I’m speaking about. I am aware that this current outbreak has caused more casualties and spread more widely, but the fear and attention it has generated began long before it surpassed the outbreak I grew up with and was terrified of. What’s the deal? How come you had to be a paranoid irrational fear-loving coward to be aware of Ebola 20 years ago, but now it’s common knowledge?

I think the answer has a few reasons. First off, we live in a much more cohesive world. By that, I mean anything that happens anywhere is known everywhere else within a matter of minutes. Not only is it known, but there are also myriad photos and videos available. All throughout history horrible things have happened, but they never seem quite as bad until you can actually see and hear them happening. Reading about some outbreak of a disease in a country you never heard of is a lot less terrifying than seeing victims of a disease dying slowly right in front of you. And not only seeing those victims, but being inundated with photos and updates and warnings. We live in a world so different from even 15-20 years ago. Shit, so different than 5-10 years go. Everything is so much worse and so much more terrifying simply because we are surrounded by it constantly and reminded all the time. We carry devices in our pockets at all times that will happily remind us of everything awful going on in the world and provide us with pictures and videos and sounds to go along with it.

Now, it’s one thing to be inundated with reminders and visceral images of horrors, but it’s another thing to have those images being slanted in fear-inducing ways. Some would have you believe that there are far greater nefarious reasons for news outlets to try to stoke panic into the populace. Conspiracies abound about how a fear-addled population is much more malleable and will allow the government to come in and take away their freedoms in the guise of our protection. To me that seems far-flung and quite honestly like much too much work. I’d have to wonder what the Hell is the impetus for someone to want the populace to be malleable and to have their freedoms taken away. Who cares? Who benefits from that? Just some dudes somewhere who love fucking with people and get off on human misery? It makes for a nice storyline that it’s completely intentional, but I really don’t buy it. I think it’s for nefarious reasons, but for different means. The fact is, news is not important anymore. We get our news from each other now. We don’t need some guy sent out by CBS or NBC to another part of the world to tell the rest of us back at home what is going on. We don’t all clamor around the TV or radio or newspapers to get word from one or two guys about what the Hell is happening somewhere else on Earth. No, now we know from a Liberian guy in Liberia, a Nigerian guy in Nigeria, what exactly is happening in those countries, and they can tell ALL of us. Directly to our little pocket devices we receive information from EVERYONE on earth about what is going on in this planet of ours. News has become irrelevant, we can inform ourselves. So, what’s the solution? Well, the important thing to remember is that news is entertainment. Sorry to say, but it is. News is not a non-profit organization. News is a business. And it is in the entertainment business. Sure, if you’re a hardcore journalist and believe in journalistic ideals then news is supposed to be about informing the rest of the world about what is going on in as unbiased a way as possible. But, that is not the case nowadays (nor really ever was). The news is losing money, very quickly. The internet has completely turned stalwart heralded news agencies into artifacts. The first thing to go were the newspapers, which closed one after another within the past few years. Then, even TV news channels like CNN started getting rid of entire departments, most often the foreign correspondents were the first to go (travel is expensive). And what have these news agencies turned into, what have they become? How do you fill 24 hour news programs when everyone already knows what’s going on in the world? Well, for one thing, you try to always be the FIRST to report something. Speed is everything in this day and age. Breaking news is all the rage and you want to be the guy that reported something first. You see again and again either straight-out false reports being aired or seriously flawed reports, anything to get it out on the air, even before the story is checked out and all facts known. Another thing the news reports on is things that hardly anyone would consider news: celebrity stories, dieting advice, exposes on mundane things like Subway footlongs not actually being a foot, etc. Why people are interested in these things, I have no idea. I assume they just are bored out of their minds and probably hate themselves and would like to know why they should hate themselves even more. Lastly, fear, fear is the number one thing to get people to watch the news. Again, it’s not because of some grand scheme to turn the whole country into sniveling cowards begging the government to save them. No, the idea is to get money. The more people that watch the news, the more advertising money they get and the more money the people that own those news channels make. Sure, it is nefarious, but not as nefarious as some would have you believe. Let’s create threats to everyone’s lives. For some reason, people are not turned off by these things but drawn to them. People want to know and crave to know how they’re going to die next and how soon it’s going to happen. How much ever closer ISIS and Al Qaeda are getting to them and how soon Ebola will be in their town. People don’t seem to have a fear of death, but rather a sincere fascination. It grabs our attention and makes us hold on.

Alright, so, is Ebola deadly? Yes, it is. Is it a horrible way to die? For sure. Believe me, I was crying under my bed as a child for a reason. But, let’s look at this rationally. As of today, there have been close to 10,000 cases of Ebola. In the entire world. Comes out to roughly .00014% of the Earth’s population has gotten Ebola. Of those, about 5,000 have died of Ebola, which is a crazy fatality rate, to be about 50%. But, again, 10,000 people on EARTH have gotten Ebola in this outbreak. How is this terrifying to anybody? Why is this causing such hysteria? If you were to turn off your computer, your phone, not read the news, listen to radio or watch TV and just go about your daily life, you would have absolutely no indication that Ebola even existed. Ebola has had no impact on your life whatsoever (I say that in general, there is obviously people it has affected and of course their communities, friends and family). In the United States there have been 3 confirmed cases of Ebola to date. THREE. Out of 300 million people. In other words 1/100millionth of the US population has Ebola. And yet you’re probably freaking out about it. What is it we are afraid of? What is causing the fear? Because it’s not the facts. It’s not what we see around us. Look around, no one is keeling over spewing blood out. You probably do not know anyone who has Ebola. The fear is from speculation. We are afraid of what COULD happen. We are afraid of something that does not even yet exist and most possibly will never happen. It’s time to stop living in fear. Eleanor Roosevelt once said “courage is more exhilarating than fear and in the long run it is easier.” That is so true. Fear is a terrible place to be, you feel disempowered and hopeless. Courage, in other words, facing fears, is a great thrill. Sure, maybe you will die, but who cares, at least you are doing something about it. At least you are living as you want.

Yes, Ebola is a terrible disease, but right now, the most horrible affect of it isn’t deaths, isn’t sickness, it’s the fear it is gripping in perfectly healthy people. Until you see death tolls rising to the hundreds of thousands, until you see your friends and family succumbing, you have nothing to fear. Right now you are afraid of nothing except the speculation of what could be. I say, let’s stop skipping a step and actually wait until it gets to the point of speculation that we fear, and then we can begin to fear it. Why are in such a rush to be terrified? The Bubonic Plague wiped out about a third of Europe’s population. THAT is scary. THAT is horrifying. If a THIRD of the population of any country or continent were to die, then I say you have every right to be horrified out of your mind. A third is 30%, right now, we are at .00014%. We have a long way to go until Ebola becomes truly terrifying. Right now, it is only fictionally terrifying and that is not something I choose to be terrified of. I’m not afraid of horror movies and I’m not afraid of speculation. Live your life the way you want, if it happens to be that you enjoy unprotected sex in West Africa, then maybe alter your life a little bit, but otherwise, do not live in fear. You have nothing to fear but fear itself as of yet (another Roosevelt quote, I know. Those guys were good about not getting freaked out by shit). Ebola is a story, crafted by a dying industry, to try to keep themselves alive. Your fear of death is keeping them alive. Stop fearing death, keep living life and decide for yourself how to look at things. If need be, we could spin anything into being a terrifying possibility. But, until the thing we are scared of actually happens, what’s the point of living scared? It’s all bullshit. Ebola is a bowl of shit, being forced down your throat. Spit it out. Don’t open your mouthes at all. Goodnight.